The Deeply Loved Project | My Adoption Story Part 3

11.30.16

The Deeply Loved Project has been such a blessing to me this year and if you read part 1 and part 2 of my story, you know!. God introduced me to three amazing families and their stories and my heart is overwhelmed! But it’s not over yet! I can’t wait to share these families with you! Be on the look out in the next month for their stories and the amazing courage and faith that they have to share them! For now, here’s part 3, which I believe the Lord is still writing for me. Enjoy! <3

Part 3 of My Adoption Story: Deeply Loved

I am deeply loved.

With this realization, I am now on a journey of healing and transformation. My first opportunity to come face to face with this journey was this past May when my friend Anna Gordon of Anna Gordon Portraits posted some of her client’s portraits on Facebook. During the photography sessions, she also captures her client’s on video as well where they share what they’re feeling as they’re being photographed. I was in awe of these women who were so confident and more in awe of Anna who makes it her mission to empower women through her work. I sent her an email expressing my support of what she’s doing and said that I wish I could be as confident as those women, but the reality was that I didn’t feel beautiful enough. She responded and thanked me for the message and told me that she thought I was very beautiful. Another two days went by and I had another message from Anna. This time, she said that she hadn’t stopped thinking about me and what I said about not feeling beautiful. She didn’t know I felt that way. No one did. She said she wanted to show me how beautiful I was and offered me a free photography session with hair and makeup included.

“Can I ask my counselor first?”, I responded. I had never taken pictures like that before and I was nervous. I eventually said yes and we set up the session. Walking into her studio I was a bag of nerves, especially when I had to make a decision about being videoed. I decided to do it and focus my message on the self-worth part of my story.

I cried when I saw the pictures and heard the video for the first time. I was able to hear my insecurities out loud. For so long, they lived in my head and I couldn’t disagree with them because they didn’t have a place in the real world yet. When I heard them spoken, I stepped back and really took them in and realized that the things, the ridiculous, inaccurate lies, I was telling myself couldn’t have been further from the trust.

The photo shoot was such a big moment for me. It allowed me to see me for who I truly am – a beautiful, confident woman who is using her passion for photography to share stories of people’s truest and most authentic selves. I realized that my “why” for photography is just beginning with The Deeply Loved Project.

It’s so clear to me now what the Lord is calling me to do with this project. I’m spreading the news that we are all deeply loved by the Lord. He has adopted us all into his family and we are his heirs to his kingdom. Whereas I couldn’t wrap my head around adoption being used in the scripture as a positive thing before, I now completely understand it and he’s calling me to use my story to not only share it but also to communicate it as a picture of salvation.

“Go and tell all nations,” The Bible says in Matthew. I have set out to tell other adoption stories in hopes that it will free others as it has for me. Adoption isn’t widely talked about because it can be rooted in pain, but when you understand it within the framework of the Lord’s choosing us, freeing us and protecting us, it’s the most beautiful love story ever told.